Title Medievalism, politics and mass media : appropriating the Middle Ages in the twenty-first century / Andrew B.R. Elliott

Published Woodbridge, Suffolk : The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2017

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Description 1 online resource (x, 223 pages) : color illustrations Series Medievalism ; 10 Medievalism (Series) ; 10. Contents Frontcover; Contents; List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 Not Dead Yet: The Middle Ages in the Twenty-first Century; 2 Getting Medieval on Your RSS: Medievalism and the Mass Media; 3 "Let's not go back to the Middle Ages": Medievalism, the Dark Ages and the Myth of Progress; 4 "This crusade, this War on Terror, is gonna take a while": The Bush Doctrine, the Crusades and Neomedievalism; 5 "They have announced explicitly that this is a Crusader war": Al Qaeda and Holy War; 6 "The Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ": Anders Behring Breivik and the Templar Knights 7 "God bless the EDL, the new Templar Knights": The EDL, the Far Right and the Crusaders8 "These women-raping, Muslim-murdering, medieval monsters": IS, the Middle Ages and the Mass Media; Bibliography; Index Summary In 2001, George Bush provoked global uproar by describing the nascent War on Terror as a "Crusade". His comments, however, were welcomed by Al-Qaeda, who had long been describing Western powers in precisely the same terms, as modern Crusaders once again invading the Middle East. Ten years later in 2011, Anders Behring Breivik launched a tragic attack in Norway, killing 77 unarmed civilians, mostly teenagers. Breivik saw himself as a Templar Knight, a member of a group of knights allegedly resurrected in London in 2002 by one "Lionheart". Later investigations suggested that the blogger, Lionheart, might have had links to the right-wing, anti-Muslim, English Defence League and other so-called "counterjihad" blogging networks decrying an Islamic invasion of Europe. Though extreme examples, these cases all share a crucial detail: the framing of current political issues in terms of recognisable medieval precedents. In the widespread use of medievalism across social- and mass-media channels, it is clear that such political medievalisms are not intended as a specific reference to a historical precedent, but as a use of the past for modern concerns. The argument of this book is that we need new ways of analysing this kind of medievalism; extending far beyond the concept of anachronism or inaccuracy, references to Crusades, Templars and Vikings affect the way we understand our world Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Qaida (Organization) IS (Organization) SUBJECT IS (Organization) fast Qaida (Organization) fast War on terror. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012069718 War on terror fast Subject Middle Ages in popular culture. Medievalism. Mass media. Islam -- 21st century. Medieval Revival. mass media. Medievalism (cultural movement) HISTORY -- World. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture. Islam Mass media Medievalism Middle Ages in popular culture Form Electronic book ISBN 9781782049548 1782049541

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